The quality of customer data
Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 4:04 am
The success of marketing automation depends on the quality of customer data.
(For simplicity, the data of contacts, leads and customers are referred to as customer data below.)
The basic prerequisite for implementing marketing automation is that the data for campaign control is available. If this data is not complete , current and correct , the campaign is at best a waste of marketing budget and at worst a hindrance to sales.
completeness
gears
To achieve the goal of completeness , it is necessary that the necessary data is available. The challenge: The data required for a campaign is usually not available centrally, but is distributed across various marketing systems such as CRM, online shop, email marketing and BI tools. And of course, each system works with its own data model, which means that marketing has to deal with a heterogeneous database landscape.
For cross-channel planning and control of customer communication, the integration of digital marketing systems is therefore essential, i.e. the data must first be brought together - namely where it is needed for targeted customer communication. The prerequisite for implementing this networking is database know-how and the corresponding interfaces for automated data exchange.
But the data must not only be in the right place , it must also hungary phone number data be in a format that can be further processed. The lowest common denominator is often the CSV file, but even for this simple file format there are dozens of variants for practical implementation, because essential parameters such as character sets, date format, separators or text recognition characters are not standardized. If the data is more complex (e.g. with hierarchical relationships), you quickly end up with the XML format, which is even less standardized and therefore requires even more detailed agreements between the data source and target.
topicality
To ensure that data is kept up to date , it is necessary that it is exchanged regularly - ideally in real time - between the marketing systems involved. This requires suitable interfaces. And ideally, these are not file transfer interfaces (such as exchanging CSV files via SFTP servers), as these are not particularly suitable for exchanging data in real time. The solution is RPC interfaces such as web services (SOAP, REST, etc.). However, there is a Babylonian confusion here, as web services are even less standardized than the CSV format. Although one or two providers advertise "standard interfaces" for certain products, experienced practitioners know that they cannot be put into operation without detailed specifications and configuration.
schedule
Of course, with monolithic all-in-one marketing solutions, the need for interfaces is lower because the data is exchanged internally. But every marketing department has at least one special solution that still needs to be connected via an interface, so this issue cannot be ignored.
(For simplicity, the data of contacts, leads and customers are referred to as customer data below.)
The basic prerequisite for implementing marketing automation is that the data for campaign control is available. If this data is not complete , current and correct , the campaign is at best a waste of marketing budget and at worst a hindrance to sales.
completeness
gears
To achieve the goal of completeness , it is necessary that the necessary data is available. The challenge: The data required for a campaign is usually not available centrally, but is distributed across various marketing systems such as CRM, online shop, email marketing and BI tools. And of course, each system works with its own data model, which means that marketing has to deal with a heterogeneous database landscape.
For cross-channel planning and control of customer communication, the integration of digital marketing systems is therefore essential, i.e. the data must first be brought together - namely where it is needed for targeted customer communication. The prerequisite for implementing this networking is database know-how and the corresponding interfaces for automated data exchange.
But the data must not only be in the right place , it must also hungary phone number data be in a format that can be further processed. The lowest common denominator is often the CSV file, but even for this simple file format there are dozens of variants for practical implementation, because essential parameters such as character sets, date format, separators or text recognition characters are not standardized. If the data is more complex (e.g. with hierarchical relationships), you quickly end up with the XML format, which is even less standardized and therefore requires even more detailed agreements between the data source and target.
topicality
To ensure that data is kept up to date , it is necessary that it is exchanged regularly - ideally in real time - between the marketing systems involved. This requires suitable interfaces. And ideally, these are not file transfer interfaces (such as exchanging CSV files via SFTP servers), as these are not particularly suitable for exchanging data in real time. The solution is RPC interfaces such as web services (SOAP, REST, etc.). However, there is a Babylonian confusion here, as web services are even less standardized than the CSV format. Although one or two providers advertise "standard interfaces" for certain products, experienced practitioners know that they cannot be put into operation without detailed specifications and configuration.
schedule
Of course, with monolithic all-in-one marketing solutions, the need for interfaces is lower because the data is exchanged internally. But every marketing department has at least one special solution that still needs to be connected via an interface, so this issue cannot be ignored.